Web 2.0, Library 2.0, Librarian 2.0

good news about what you are already doing

« the cluetrain »

"We are waking up and linking to each other. We are watching. But we are not waiting."

1. Markets are conversations
6. The Internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media.
The web started out as lots of scientists and CS students making online projects and evolved to let you upload a picture of your cat. Then word got out that the Internet was big business. Everyone wanted to capitalize of the tv model where advertising would dominate, content would bring people to advertising and businesspeople would remain fat and happy. BUT... something happened. Not content to just be passive receptors of content, people began using the internet to talk to each other. And they talked to each other about... well, cats, and online cs projects, but also the advertisers and businesspeople themselves who were increasingly looking like outsiders in this whole new conversation. People started to notice in that "who's the narc?" sort of way.
There's a new conversation between and among your market and your workers. It's making them smarter and it's enabling them to discover their human voices.
You have two choices. You can continue to lock yourself behind facile corporate words and happytalk brochures....
Or you can join the conversation.

« a duller illustration »

w2 and l2

read/write web

long tail

"radical trust"

user experience

the whole "conversation" thing

perpetual beta

Further Reading: Web 2.0...The Machine is Us/ing Us and responses (we'll watch it later)
Walmart's ability to offer three colors of Kitchenaid blender, versus 57 on the Amazon siteit's all about the data, in the aggregate, data that users provide. what else: looser IP models, less control, less platform specific development (will it work on a phone? a PDA?)

« you are skeptical? »

« definitions: library 2.0 »

Library 2.0 - "services are constantly updated and reevaluated to best serve library users. Library 2.0 also attempts to harness the library user in the design and implementation of library services by encouraging feedback and participation." [cite]
Librarian 2.0 - "the guru of the information age." [cite]

« another look at the same thing »

1. Education: Everyone and Everywhere - Any Slow Library approach assumes education (bidirectional) is a primary ingredient and outcome. Educating staff and users how to avail themselves of information resources and tools then using the results of that educational experience to build new tools and content. A self-perpetuating odyssey.
2. Community: Participate and Preserve - A close-knit community is especially important on the staff side to ensure that the people building the services and resources work closely and collaboratively. You also need to trust everyone to ensure wide participation: if all your staff don't have full admin access to your ILS you need to add some moxie. In the new Library 2.0 context those that use our services are an extension of that team via things like tagging and annotations. Expanding this community (locally and beyond) and preserving the knowledge generated is fundamental to ensuring that the community thrives. If you are nervous about patrons adding tags to your Marc records you need to add even more moxie, and maybe even some mojo.
3. Local: Small-scale and Granular - Whenever possible grow information services and resources using local talent. This can be done in many ways, but one is by spending money on the development of local staff rather than on expensive vendor products. In order to make this doable, small modular components are often (not always) better than big monolithic containers. Starting small and build up and out: also called The Lego Principle :-)
4. Craftsmanship: Open and Sustainable - Craftsmen (craftspeople?) care about quality and longevity. In the information universe the best way to ensure the craft and product are strong is to support things open: source/standards/data/information/knowledge. If we can build on top of open then we increase the likelihood the results will be sustainable.
5. People: Capacity and Passion - I have yet to meet a person in this sector who couldn't learn what they needed to do as long as they have the passion. Take that away and all the skills and knowledge in the world will only take you so far. A good dose of both will take you wherever you need to go. Also, computers can't enjoy a beer with you.
6. Enjoyment: Savour the Unexpected - What can I say. If it ain't fun it ain't on. Don't stop colleagues from asking completely asinine questions and let the weird ideas flow.

« so? »

« questions & credits »

Jessamyn West is a community technology librarian and the editor of the weblog librarian.net. She teaches email classes for seniors, builds tiny websites for tiny libraries and advocates for sensible technology use for everyone.

IM her at iamthebestartist.

All images were grabbed hither and yon, if one belongs to you and you object to its use, let me know.

This presentation was created in HTML using CSS. There was no PowerPoint involved except as a nagging bad example. The layout and stylesheet are available to borrow via a share and share alike creative commons license. See source code for details.